At the moment I'm spending most of my time writing a short comedy I'm hoping to get out by Christmas and doing background work for a trilogy set in the same world as Bane of Souls and Journey to Altmortis (come to think of it I should be spending some more time promoting Journey to Altmortis...).

The comedy's proving very different to write than a serious book, and a bit more challenging than I'd expected. Whilst a serious book can have scenes that work in various ways (drama, amusement, tragedy etc) comedy has to be funny, and if it isn't then everything else doesn't matter. As well as the obvious challenge of writing stuff that others hopefully find amusing there's an issue regarding repetitiveness.

The first chapter was relatively easy to write, but it's proved more difficult than I'd imagined to avoid repetitiveness when it comes to humour and at the same time maintain a consistent and credible (in a fantasy-based context) lead character. Sir Edric's a bit of a sexist womaniser, and as much of the book is spent laughing at him as with him, but I want to avoid him becoming a one note gong.

The book's very much written from his perspective (although not first person), as he proceeds on a mission that could optimistically be described as suicidal.

Unlike my previous books this one is being helped by the kind assistance of several beta readers, who already (presently written perhaps a quarter to a third of it) have significantly improved the writing with their suggestions.

Another unexpected feature of comedy is that it's usually either very easy or very hard to write, and I've both written more in a day and had more writer's block than I would with serious stuff.

After it's done (still no working title but for these blog posts I'll use the Hornska tag) I'll definitely be working on Kingdom Asunder, the preliminary title of the first book of the trilogy, but whether I jump straight into part 2 or return to a second short comedy with Sir Edric will depend largely on the response to the first comedy.

I'm also planning to try and publish the comedy in physical format, which would be a first for me.Thaddeus

Just wanted to clear something up ahead of time. Hopefully this post will be entirely redundant, however.

I chose the $2.99 price tag for a couple of reasons, but near the top of the list was the 70% royalty rate at Amazon. Prices below this are not eligible and therefore have the 35% royalty rate.

However, sometimes (as happened fairly recently with Bane of Souls) Amazon can itself lower the price (probably matching a lower price elsewhere). If this happened and the price got dropped to, say $2.89 that would save the customer $0.10 but more than halve my income per book.

In that situation I'd have to increase the price by the minimum unit (on Smashwords and Amazon) in order to re-enter, hopefully, the 70% bracket.

After the comedy I imagine that the trilogy will be priced a bit higher (probably looking at $4.99 per book, but that's not set in stone) and this shouldn't be an issue. I really dislike fiddling with prices, but because I selected the Journey to Altmortis price in order to fall within the higher royalty range that's something I would have to do, if the situation outlined above arose.

As for the comedy, pencilled in at 20-40,000 words, I'm also thinking of a $2.99 price tag. The aim is a Christmas release.

It's available for the modest consideration of £1.98 ($2.99 in the US), although I'd remind readers that if you go to Smashwords and use code XK87G you can get it for the low price of $1.02 (the code lasts until 14 May, so don't delay).

So, please do buy the book, rate, review and tell your friends about it. Word of mouth can really help an author, and reviews are always both interesting and useful to read.

A larger version (two, actually) of the map can be found on this site, under the Artwork tab. Just click on the one you prefer and an enormous version will appear.

My plans for the future, apart from awkwardly promoting Journey to Altmortis, are to try and get a short comedy (20-40,000 words) done by Christmas, and then I'll crack on with my most ambitious endeavour to date: a trilogy about the civil war in Denland. Right now I'm pretty confident that I've got the bones of a great plot and characters for book one but I still want to sort out the basic storylines for books 2 and 3.

The first book of the trilogy has the working title Kingdom Asunder, but the comedy is unnamed, as yet.

I had planned to release it at the end of the month, but the technical woe I've been suffering prompted me to (annoyingly) ditch my plans and hasten its release.

Journey to Altmortis is out at Smashwords for a mere $2.99, but this trifling sum can be reduced even more, to just $1.02 if you use the code XK87G. The code expires in 14 May, so don't dally and buy today!

Smashwords offers a wide variety of formats, and the Amazon version is in the pipeline (verification takes a while, unfortunately).

The book takes place in the same world as Bane of Souls, and there's a substantial overlap of characters from that book to this (excepting Falchester, though, the major characters of Bane of Souls either have minor roles or do not make an appearance).

Here's the description:Never steal from a thief.

Years ago the Brothers Whitworth stole priceless heirlooms from Thaddeus and Lynette Falchester, but when the siblings learn of their whereabouts the hunt is on. The Whitworths have broken into the dead city of Altmortis, rumoured to hold the ancient treasures of the Kuhrland.

Accompanied by assorted ne'er-do-wells, they brave the harsh Kuhrisch winter, a forest dripping with blood and a village of monstrous demons to reach the remote city.

But when Thaddeus and Lynette delve into the depths of Altmortis they find more than robbers lurking in the shadows…

My computer just threw a wobbly and decided it wasn't going to work anymore.

Happily (obviously) it's returned to normal service, for now at least. I'm hoping it's plain sailing until (and beyond) the release of Journey to Altmortis, but in case the problem recurs or even worsens I thought I'd post a heads up so that if I appear to disappear off the face of the internet people know it's probably just a case of computeritis rather than anything more sinister.

That said, I'd really rather not be forced to delay the release of Journey to Altmortis because of technical issues.